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The whole of South Woodham was out looking for her once word was out that she was missing.

But after hours of searching, her parents’ worst nightmares came true.

Holly was found at the top of Radar Hill. It was too late to save her.

The community have since rallied round Holly's family following the tragic incident.

In this exclusive interview, David sheds light on how he is using his daughter’s memory to try to prevent this from happening to other children.

Holly Clacy - pictured here on a family holiday to Tenerife - took her own life in South Woodham Ferrers on November 20, 2017

"She was a happy, bubbly, vivacious and engaging lovely child.”

These are the words of David Clacy, remembering his daughter Holly who took her own life last November.

David was first informed of Holly’s disappearance in the afternoon of November 20 after school hours had finished.

“By then, her sister had posted on Facebook and the message spread quickly via social media,” David explains. “Facebook has many questionable things to answer for but in this instance it was of great value.”

Many people from the community of South Woodham Ferrers turned out to help her family members find Holly.

David added: “It seemed to galvanise everyone and we owe a huge debt to those who came out and helped the search.”

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A 'total shock'

David Clacy recalls the night he found Holly on Radar Hill (Image: Chris Cook)

Friends, family, colleagues and those who did not even know Holly scoured the whole town and surrounding countryside in an effort to bring her home.

“I checked everywhere I could think of and eventually in a terrible coincidence I found my beautiful girl up Radar Hill,” he said.

After his discovery and members of the public coming to assist his calls for help, David was in full praise for the emergency services who arrived and tried all they could to help.

“The immediate response we had, and the number of professionals helping us was fantastic,” said David.

Holly's funeral was on December 12 – which would have been her 16th birthday.

“The worst thing after a tragedy like this is informing all the people who loved Holly that they would not be able to see her again,” David said.

Sitting on his sofa in his flat on Clements Green Lane, David recalled how Holly's “vivacious” and “happy” personality never led him to believe she would take her own life.

"If a plane had landed on my head I would have been less surprised. It was a total shock," he said.

"She would have her off days. She could be spiky at times. If there was something she didn't want to answer or talk about she wouldn't. But I wouldn't say that she was different.

"The one thing I keep saying to people is that if you’re looking for an emo dragging their knuckles along the floor as an indication you are looking at the wrong person because if you look at every single picture of her she is laughing and smiling.

"She was a happy, bubbly, vivacious and engaging lovely child so it was not expected."

Keeping Holly's memory alive

David explaining how the Holly Clacy Foundation is looking to prevent this from happening to other children (Image: Chris Cook)

Keen to keep her memory alive, David and his family organised a flower ceremony to take place at the spot she took her life just six days after the tragic incident. Around 200 people turned up to mark the occasion.

David added: "The community when they found out they brought these flowers to her school and I was looking at them and thinking eventually these are just going to die and be thrown in a skip.

"I thought I can’t have that so I looked at them and thought it was going to take me 20 trips to take them up the hill to Holly.

"I put out on Facebook to say we were going to have a flower ceremony and asked if anyone would like to help us carry the flowers up the hill.

“I wanted the area to be nice and clean so we decided to try and tidy the hill ready for anybody who was thinking of helping.

“On the morning there were floods of people all over the road when we arrived. When we got to the top of the hill and looked down there were people still coming through from the gate to help. It was fantastic."

It was at that ceremony where the seeds were sown for a new charity set up in Holly's name – The Holly Clacy Foundation.

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The purpose of the foundation is to highlight the pressures children face in modern-day life and help parents spot the potential signs in their own children.

David was approached by local businesswoman Sue Colvill on the day of the flower ceremony who wanted to organise a raffle.

They managed to raise £8,000 at the raffle to raise money for benches which will sit at the top of Radar Hill to create an 'oasis' where people can visit and look out over the town.

BAE systems, an aerospace company that owns the land on Radar Hill, has kindly promised to gift some of its land for the benches, as David explains: "We wanted to give back to the community in some form. It will be somewhere peaceful to sit.

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Heartbreaking stories

“All bereavement fills the feeling of loss with guilt. You can’t help looking back and thinking if there was something that you could have done,” David continued.

“I wondered if there was maybe some way of educating parents, maybe there’s warning signs that they miss or aren’t even aware of.”

It is with this in mind that The Holly Clacy Foundation is hoping to kick start an initiative for educating adults.

David added: "This is what we think might be a good plan of attack for us now to think about doing here, to put together an evening with mental health care professionals, invite the people of South Woodham and get them to listen to the story.

"There are so many kids doing this all over the country, even in this area suicide is not uncommon.”

'A phone is the most dangerous thing you can give a kid'

David Clacy speaking to reporter James Gregory at his South Woodham flat (Image: Chris Cook)

David has also considered the idea of an anti-bullying mobile phone app - a facility that would pair a junior phone, the child's, to a senior phone, the parent's, so they would share data and curb potential cyber-bullying.

He said: "One of the things that I learned from speaking to the police is the amount of children either being bullied, sent inappropriate material and sending inappropriate material themselves.

"The idea is that if you had an eight-year-old child being bullied by someone and they could say to that bully ‘Sure, send me a text, send me any emails you like or anything else, but just bear in mind whatever you send me my dad is going to get it as well'.

"I thought instantly an eight-year-old bully is not scared of an eight-year-old. But an eight-year-old bully would think twice about trying to bully his or her father.

"A phone is the most dangerous thing that you can give your kid – I’d like to see them give them the keys to their brand new BMW X4 and say 'have a little spin in that' and they wouldn't. But somehow a phone is acceptable.

"You have got to take away that responsibility from kids – how can you give them that responsibility?

"You can’t leave them with the phone and can’t take it off them so the only way is to take pressure off the children and get the parents to accept responsibility.

"The only way you can get parents to accept responsibility is if you get a system in place which allows them to do so.

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Shortly after Holly died, David spent some time working with William de Ferrers School on an idea for pupil wellbeing.

“I thought an old method we used whilst I was teaching plumbing in colleges might work for our schools too,” David explains.

“At the end of the week we would get our trainees to fill out an evaluation form.

“It gave them a chance to say how they thought the week was, the training and facilities. I thought this may be a great way of getting our school pupils to have their say on how they’re feeling.”

David went on to say that it would be great if all the school children in the country could be given the opportunity to say what’s troubling them. “It could be done like an election with completely anonymous forms, I want to call it ‘Your School, Your Say.”

As of last week, David had received a Facebook post to say that a pupil in William de Ferrers School had filled out an online form and it “…made me feel great knowing I was being looked out for and someone was listening to me”.

A spokesperson from the school said: “Our school recognises how difficult it is for young people to navigate the challenges of the modern world.

"We seek to work closely with families, carers and our community to engage with and challenge attitudes, values and behaviours to allow our pupils to flourish and succeed, both in their studies and their emotional health and well-being."

Celebrating Holly's life

Holly tragically took her own life in November 2017

Roger Bigwood of Supported Business Holdings, said: "I can't help but feel for any family who have gone through such a tragedy.

"Whilst our developmental plans for Radar Hill are in their infancy I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr Clacy and expressing our intent and desire to provide a little area as a memorial site to celebrate Holly's life, and to provide a place of peace and sanctuary for countless others whose lives have been affected by Holly's short time on this earth, or other locals whose lives were too brief due to the increasing pressure on the lives of our young children.

"Unfortunately two recent acts of mindless vandalism have set our plans back by several weeks.

“Whilst a police investigation is underway, this has cast a horrible shadow over our effort to build a relationship with the local community and has jeopardised the project.

"Please can all parents, teachers and carers of young people in the area make sure that children are not entering the compound area, as it is extremely dangerous.

"The site is now littered with shattered glass whilst the towers are, and always have been, unsafe to climb or play near.

"We do have active CCTV on site and all trespassers will be reported to the police, with any vandals being prosecuted.

"Once again I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the Clacy family and friends of Holly on behalf of Supported Business Holdings Ltd.

"I hope that the people of South Woodham will work together to stop those who are responsible for these mindless acts and to encourage the local community to unite with us in our efforts to make the area a better, safer place."

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David has asked for anyone with any questions to contact him on 07921 392515.

Alternatively, you can call Sue Colvill – also involved with the foundation – on 07740 699276, or visit the Holly Clacy Foundation Facebook page.

A spokesperson for Samaritans said: "You don’t have to be suicidal to call Samaritans. Whatever you’re going through, call us free any time from any phone on 116 123 (this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill), email jo@samaritans.org , or visit samaritans.org to find details of your nearest branch."